Look out the office window: do you see any kangaroos? London, England, a city in the United Kingdom. London, Ontario, a city in Canada. London, Belize, a village. London, Equatorial Guinea, a village. London, Finland, a section of Jakobstad. London, Kiribati, a small city on Kiritimati. London, Nigeria, a village. London, Limpopo, a village in South Africa. London, Mpumalanga (Noordprovincie) in South Africa. London, Mpumalanga (Graskop) in South Africa and now: London, a city in Australia.

That which is not present is not necessarily that not wanted. Take the humble bidet for example. As a fitting, the bidet is today not commonly present in most modern bathrooms. Does the bidet’s absence from the British bathroom landscape, mean that standards of hygiene have regressed from Victorian times or has the humble bar of soap (via Ecosoapia dispensers) taken over? Visibility does not always equate to desire. The bidet’s disappearance probably has more to do with the spatial economics of bathroom real estate than any societal improvement in personal cleansing.
In Asia personal hygiene includes a separation of hand tasks: left = kitchen, right = bathroom…

Modern architecture is arguably most manifest in its formalisation of social housing. Yet sometimes the tight aesthetic constraints of Modernism – white walls and shadow gaps – restricts self expression. In this space it is the Front Door which is frequently the last bastion of identity…

As the city becomes increasingly concerned with street appearances due to conservation policies, real estate appeals… architecture is being flatten into two-dimensions. The fake facades of the single street town depicted in many Hollywood country and western films today can be found in many cities whose urban development policies prioritise ‘how things look from the street’ over how buildings are actually used. Even in Islington it is possible to see the Country and Western town as the historic facades are lobotomised from the living spaces behind…